In a variety of manners, thin, flat, flexible food items have been formed into rigid, thin-walled, bowl-shaped shells to create edible bowls for holding food. The flexible food items are often circular tortillas made with flour or corn. The flexible tortillas or other food items are sometimes made rigid by submersing them in heated oil and cooking them until rigid. By maintaining the tortillas or other food items in a particular shape for a sufficient time during submersive cooking, they will retain that shape upon removal from the oil. Such items are often used, for example, as salad bowls.
In some instances, a shell maker apparatus has been employed to form or mold the flexible tortillas or other food items into a bowl shape. Some conventional shell maker apparatus employ two mating baskets to form the flexible tortilla into the bowl shape between the two baskets. In some of those shell maker apparatus, the flexible tortilla is preformed into a bowl shape between the two mating baskets and then cooked until it becomes rigid. While the tortilla is flexible before insertion into the oil, it, nonetheless, can be easily torn if folded or bent too much. One problem with these mating basket apparatus that preform the tortilla into the bowl shape is that they may cause tearing the tortilla during loading. That is, the tortilla is folded or bent before submersion, and it is not until after submersion in the hot oil that the tortilla becomes most flexible and less likely to tear upon bending.
Another kind of mating basket shell maker apparatus partially forms the tortilla into a bowl shape before submersing the tortilla into the oil. Then, shortly after submersion, when the tortilla is more flexible, the apparatus is manipulated to further form the tortilla into the final bowl shape for cooking until rigid. While this apparatus may take advantage of the tortilla being more flexible subsequent to submersion, the apparatus does require manipulation after the apparatus has been submersed into the oil which must be properly timed to form the tortilla to its final shape.
Another problem encountered with some conventional shell maker apparatus that have mating baskets is caused by structure which interferes with the cooked shell. When forming a flat tortilla into a bowl-shaped shell during submersive cooking, fins, folds, bubbles and or other irregularities may form along the sides of the shell during cooking. Once the shell becomes rigid, it is easily broken. If the fins, bubbles, folds, irregularities form around structure or framework of the apparatus, it may be difficult or impossible to remove the cooked shell from the apparatus without breaking the shell. In particular, one kind of shell maker apparatus has baskets made from wire (i.e. a wire framework system) having large spaces between the wires that the fins, bubbles, folds, irregularities can easily pass through.
An additional problem encountered with some conventional shell maker apparatus having mating baskets is that the apparatus may not be readily able to form a sufficiently deep shell relative to the dimensions of the base of the shell to provide a proper sized bowl for holding food. In general, when a bowl shape is formed from a flat, circular tortilla, the fins along the side of the shell will become larger as the depth of the shell is increased relative to the dimensions of the base of the shell. In one kind of mating basket apparatus, the baskets form the tortilla into the bowl shape by tightly pressing the tortilla between the two baskets. When there is tight pressing along the portion of the tortilla that will form the sides of the shell, especially in the case of the deeper shells, the fins may not be properly formed or properly cooked.
Another problem encountered with conventional shell maker apparatus having mating baskets results from requiring a second outer basket sized to mate with an inner basket. Because the second basket is required, the apparatus requires more material to manufacture the apparatus. Also, a bulkier apparatus, which is more difficult to handle during use and to clean after use, results.
Due to the popularity of edible bowls made from tortillas and the like, there has been a continuing need for improvements in apparatus and methods to provide for convenient preparation of the bowls. New techniques addressing the above recited problems, or similar problems, have been especially needed.